Toy railroad trackage



INVENTOR Jesi/WZ. .5m/AAW@ ATTCHQNEY Feb. 10, 1942. y J. BoNANNo TOYRAILROAD TRACKAGE Filed July 22, 1939 Patented Feb. 10, 1942 TOYRAILROAD TRACKAGE Joseph L. Bonanno, Maplewood, N. J.,

The Lionel Corporation,

poration of New York Application July 22, 1939, Serial No. 285,853

13 Claims.

The present invention relates to toy railroad trackage, Vand is moreparticularly directed toward interchangeable sections for use in toyrailroads, these sections having insulating bases adapted to beassembled end to end to `complete the trackage and carrying wheelguiding and preferably power rails which become automatically,electrically and mechanically connected when .the insulating bases arebrought together.

According to the present invention the wheel guiding rail is ixedlysecured at one end to the base, this end being provided with alongitudinally extending conducting element adapted to enter into theopen end of the corresponding rail of an adjacent section. The open endof the rail is yieldably secured to the base and the base and projectingelement above referred to have cooperating cam surfaces to eiect alatching action as the longitudinally extending element enters into theopening in the rail. The power rails have longitudinally extendingconducting elements at each end and these conducting elements are oisetfrom the center line of the rail and adapted to enter into openings inthe ends of the power rails of adjacent sections.

The accompanying drawing shows, for purposes of illustrating the presentinvention, one of the many embodiments in which the invention may takeform, it being understood that the drawing is illustrative of theinvention rather than limiting the same.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a top plan View of two track sections showing the sameseparated and parts broken away;

Figure 2 is an inverted track sections of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line 3 3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 showing the two sections nearlyassembled;

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view on the line 5 5 of Figure 1; and

Figure 6 is a sectional View on the line 6 6 oi Figure 5.

In the form of construction shown each track section has a base I madeof molded insulating material. The upper surface of the insulating basehas transversely extending tie simulating elements II and haslongitudinally extending upwardly opening grooves I2, I2 for wheelbearing rails and I3 for a power rail. Near the ends I4, I4 of the baseit is provided with apertures I5, I opening into the channels I2, I2 andan plan view of the two aperture I6 opening into the channel I3. The 55Athe insulating base.

assignor to New York, N. Y., a. corchannels I2 are alike but reversedend to end, the lower channel I2 of Figure l opening at the right, whileat the right-hand end of the upper channel I2, Figure 1, the insulatingbase is provided with a cam element Il, shown more clearly in Figure 3.The bases are provided with aligning lugs I8, I8 at the ends which areadapted to nt underneath the bases and align the bases when beingassembled.

The track rails 20 are formed of inverted U- shaped strips of sheetmetal of the proper size and length to t into the grooves I 2 andnotched, as indicated at 2| Figure 3, to accommodate the camming elementI'I. The sheet metal rails are secured to anchorages 22 and 23. Theseanchorages are fiat sheet metal stampings having holes 24 and 25 intowhich the thin sheet metal of the rails can be deformed. The anchorage22 has a portion 26 adapted to extend down through the opening I5 in theinsulating base, and this downwardly extending element is upset againsta plate 2l bearing on the under surface of the insulating base, so as toxedly secure the end of the rail in place. The anchorage element 22extends beyond the end of the insulating base, as indicated at 28, andvhas a nose 29 adapted to ride up over the cam element I1 and a recess30 to-receive the cam element when the parts are completely assembled.The anchorage 23 has a long downwardly extending element 3l passingthrough the opening I5 and is secured to a spring 32 bearing on thelower surface of This spring is tensioned to hold the corresponding endof the rail down, as indicated on the right-hand side of Figure 3, butis yieldable when the camming element 28 is inserted, as shown in Figure4, so as to raise the end of the rail 20 from the insulating base. Whenthe ends of the bases are brought into engagement the cam I1 enters thenotch 30 and the spring 32 acts to oppose separation of the bases. Itwill be apparent from the drawing that when the parts are completelyassembled the outer surfaces of the wheel bearing rails will beperfectly aligned.

The power rails 33 are made similar to the wheel bearing rails and aresecured to anchorages 36 in the same way. These anchorages are alsosimilarly secured to the base. The anchorages for the third railelements have longitudinally extending elements 35 which project fromthe end of the rails. 'I'hese elements are formed out of material of theanchorage by thinning the same so as to provide openings in eacl end ofeach rail into which the projection from the corresponding third railmay enter, as shown in Figure 6. These projections and openings are of!center so that the projecting elements of the third rails enter into theopenings provided for them.

It will be noted that the construction herein shown is one which employsa readily made molded insulating body or .base and a number ofinexpensive readily assembled stampings. The sections may readily bemade interchangeable and susceptible of quick and ready assembly td forma complete railroad track layout. While the drawing shows a straightsection it will, of course, be understood that similar curved sectionsmay be made and that switches and cross overs may be provided with thesame type of electrical mechanical coupling elements, so as to beinterchangeable with the straight sections.

It is obvious that the invention may be embodied in many forms andconstructions within the scope of the claims and I wish it to beunderstood that the particular form shown is but one of the many forms.Various modifications and changes being possible, I do not otherwiselimit myself in any way with respect thereto.

What is claimed is:

1. Toy railway trackage comprising a plurality of track sections adaptedto be assembled end to end, each section comprising a base carryingwheel bearing rails, one end of each wheel bearing rail being fxedlysecured to its base and having an element extending longitudinallybeyond the rail above the base, the other end of each rail being securedto the base for yieldable vertical movement, the part of the baseadjacent the yieldable end of the rail and the longitudinally extendingelement of the adjacent section having camming faces adapted to displacethe yieldable end of the rail upwardly as the sections are beingassembled and to interlock when the sections are' completely assembled.

2. In toy railway trackage, two track sections having bases disposed inabutting end to end relation, wheel bearing rails extending to theabutting ends, one rail being fixed to the top of the correspondingbase, the other rail being secured to the corresponding base foryieldable vertical movement, the second base having a cam under theyieldable end of the rail, the fixed rail having a projecting elementengageable with the other rail and the cam to displace the yieldable endof the adjacent rail as the sections are being assembled.

3. In toy railway traekage, a base having an upwardly facing cam nearthe end, an inverted U-shaped rail above the cam, a downwardly actingspring holding the rail in predetermined position and yieldable topermit the rail to be lifted, a second base having a xed rail providedwith an extension adapted to enter the first rail and engage the cam andfirst rail and lift the first rail, the extension having a notch toreceive the cam when the bases are in abutting relation and permit therail to lower to its normal position.

4. In a toy railway track section, a base, an inverted U-shaped railextending lengthwise of the base, and means for securing one end of therail to the base and to an adjoining aligned rail comprising a platereceived in the rail and having a downwardly extending anchorage lug andan exposed longitudinally extending element adapted to enter a rail ofsimilar track section.

inverted U-shaped rail extending lengthwise of the base, means forsecuring one end of the rail to the base and to an adjoining alignedrail comprising a plate received in the rail and having a downwardlyextending anchorage lug and an exposed longitudinally extending elementadapted to enter a rail of similar track section, and means for securingthe other end of the rail to the base comprising a plate received in therail and extending down through an aperture in the base, and a springsecured to the downwardly extending part.

8. In toy railway trackage, track sections having bases in abuttingrelation and having corresponding aligned rails, the end of one railbeing fixed and carrying a notched projection entering into the end ofthe other rail, theother rail being yieldably secured to its base, thesaid base having a camming element engageable with the projection tocause the projection to shift the yieldable end of the said other railand entering the notched projection to resist separation of thesections.

9. In toy railway trackage, track sections having bases with aligninglugs to insure registry when the bases are abutted end to end, alignedtrack rails one of which is fixed and the other yieldable verticallyagainst a spring, and cooperative devices effecting such verticalmovement when the bases are brought toward one another. said devicespassing by one another when the bases are in Contact so that railelevation is Y normal and the .bases are secured against separation.

10. In toy railway trackage, an insulating base having a grooveextending from one end of the base nearly to the other, an invertedU-shaped rail entering said groove, an anchorage for one end of the railextending down through the base and beyond the end of the rail, and ananchorage for the other end of the rail extending down through the otherend of the base, a spring engaging the last-mentioned anchorage andyieldably holding the rail down, the groove terminating short of saidother end of the base to form a lug, the projecting end of the anchoragebeing shaped to interlock with the lug of an aligned groove of theadjacent section.

1l. `Toy railway trackage comprising bases rails carried on the bases,one end of each rail having a downwardly acting yieldable anchorage tohold that end of the rail against the base and an open end, the basehaving a cam underneath the rail, the cooperative end of the rail of theother section having an extension receivable in the open end of thefirst rail and a camming element engageable with the cam to lift therail and a notch into which the cam may enter when the extension ispushed all the way into the opening.

12. Interchangeable sections for toy railway trackage comprising baseshaving aligning lugs to afford end to end assemblage of the sections,

wise of the bases and secured thereto, one end of each wheel bearingrail being vertically movable and open, the other end having alongitudinally extending element to enter the opening, the .base andlongitudinally extending element having cam surfaces to cause a.latching action as the element enters the opening, the power rails beingopen at each end and having oi cen ter longitudinally extending elementsadapted to 10 enter said openings.

JOSEPH L. BONANNO.

